Music: Carnifex

Sunny Florida has somehow inspired the formation of a slew of top-name Death Metal bands over the past quarter century. The equally idyllic San Diego, Calif., has also produced its share of doom-and-gloom, heavy-as-hell rockers, including Death Metal champs Carnifex. The brutal yet progressive five-piece (its name taken from the Old English word for “executioner”) formed in the mid-’00s and released a string of well-received albums through Victory Records.

Those recordings, as well as their punishing live shows, helped Carnifex grow its loyal fanbase to impressive levels over time, something that has continued with the band’s latest album, Die Without Hope, the group’s fifth full-length (recorded in Florida with noted Metal producer Mark Lewis) and first for Metal juggernaut Nuclear Blast Records. With DevilDriver, Whitechapel, Revocation, Rivers of Nihil and Fit For An Autopsy.